


Three's A Crowd

by PenNameArtist



Category: Planes (Movies)
Genre: Drunkenness, Enjoying using that headcanon thoroughly, Fluff, Gen, Shenanigans, using someone elses headcanon that is better than my own because I'm allowed to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24730696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenNameArtist/pseuds/PenNameArtist
Summary: Summary:The old saying is kinda right; You don’t talk religion or politics. And for Skipper and Blade, you also don’t talk about sharing the same Bonded Companion.Dedicated to BobblyChickenRated Teen because funny adult shenanigans and things, and swear-words, oooh scary
Relationships: Dusty Crophopper/Blade Ranger, Dusty Crophopper/Skipper Riley, Skipper Riley/Blade Ranger
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21





	Three's A Crowd

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bobblychicken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bobblychicken/gifts).



There are a lot of unspoken rules that go into relationships. Whether you know them or not, there are topics and situations and little things that will always be avoided or talked around in most all connections with others. The old saying is kinda right; You don’t talk religion or politics. And for Skipper and Blade, you also don’t talk about sharing the same Bonded Companion.  
There was enough distance between them that problems never really occured; After all, they were big boys, they knew how to share, and Dusty flitted happily between them, seemingly unaware or uncaring of the fact that his time with each was separated and individual, which as such led to some distant tensions between the two protective males.  
Part of that naivety may have been because the interactions between his two mentors were entirely different atmospheres altogether. Skipper was his Companion for much longer than Blade’s been, and he looked up to him in the way a son may look up to their fathers or grandfathers; a life role model. They came into a Bonded Companionship easily, and though they of course had their ‘moments’ - mostly due to the younger getting worked up over something or another - things were for the most part smooth sailing between them.  
Blade was a little more complicated. And by that, I mean a _lot_ more complicated. Having been left severed and permanently damaged from the events of his last Companionship and it’s unexpected end, Blade was endlessly reluctant and wrought over their relationship, slowing a lot of their progress down in the process. Dusty in turn had to pick up the slack for both of them, and take an otherwise more guarding and therapeutic approach to their relationship, until Blade could learn how to just _be_ a Companion again. Though that rickety bridge had been crossed by now, it was clear they were still just taking baby steps, working up to the kind of easy space Dusty already shared with Skipper.  
But today was going to be the test - a test to see if they really were as okay with _each other_ as much as they’ve reassured the crop duster they were. Though they were by no means enemies, there was definitely that tension between the two of them and their what-technically-counts-as-an-existing-relationship. They knew each other in the way distant relatives might, or the friends of friends - you acknowledge their existence, but until you’re forced to share a space with them, you pretend they just don’t really exist. And today was the day to see how they fared putting up with each other for three whole days, and not by choice either, because this was _Dusty’s_ decision - on account of a day that only occurs once a year.

“Oooh…” Dusty gawked, for about the fifth time in as many minutes. Anything and everything on the cruise ship was new and exciting to the young plane. Skipper just rolled his eyes - the boy’s been on tons of trips on cruise ships like this, yet his excitement and curiosity never faltered. The three of them - yes, air boss included - would be out on a weekend cruise across Lake Superior, a little something for Dusty’s 27th.  
Whilst the orange and white airplane ogled over the breathtaking sight of...well everything apparently, Skipper noticed Blade seemed unusually tense. Well, tense enough to appear unusual to _him_ \- he didn’t have enough of a read on him yet to know if that was considered “normal”.  
“You okay?” He asked, testing the waters at least. He knew him, obviously, but not well enough to know how to approach him.  
“..Yeah, I’m fine.” The helicopter replied shortly. Suppose he was just ‘like that’ then. Seemed right for a fire chief of over three decades anyways. Dusty, who finally came back to reality and remembered they were both still here, didn’t seem to think the helicopter’s disposition was quite as ordinary.  
“Are you sure?” He prodded. The red and white helicopter clenched his jaw for a moment, taking in a heavy, slow breath, before he made an attempt at looking relaxed.  
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me.” He finally said, “Just been a while since I’ve been out on the water.”  
Though he didn’t seem too convinced, Dusty eventually shrugged and dropped the subject, opting to get their minds off of things with a few day activities. And before either of them asked -  
“Don’t worry, I won’t make either of you do the crazy stuff.” he reassured.  
Actually, for Dusty, most of the things they planned to go do were pretty tame, for him especially. There were a few neat shows they planned to go see in the day, and all throughout their time, Dusty hit just about every food place there was.  
“What? You can’t _not_ enjoy cruise food!” He said. In truth, the food was damn good anyways, and they all could agree on that.  
Eventually, they made it back out to the deck, watching the sun start to set over the landscape in the distance. It was there that Skipper noticed Blade’s cold, distanced behavior again. Under the deck he seemed fine, and between events the two of them had even caught up with each other, making playful jokes about the hyperactive air tractor and how they eached dealt with him. While they acted differently with him for sure, they were both well aware of all his weird little quirks and traits that made him...Well, _him_.  
For a short time, they even discussed Bonded Companionships in general - Blade started to open up about his past Companion, and how Dusty was so alike to him, but still so altogether different, and how the adjustments were still a little complicated and weird. For the first time since the warbird had gotten to know the red and white chopper, he finally started to see exactly _why_ he and Dusty had taken things so slow for so long now. It finally clicked that there was a reason they took their time. It was simply a matter of being ready, and crossing over those much larger hurdles between them to get to that point, something he and Dusty didn’t have to do nearly _any_ of since they became Companions.  
Now, sitting out by the railing, Blade seemed to shut off every topic that was thrown at him, automatically. It was as if a switch had been flipped between the lower level and here, and the navy blue plane couldn’t for the life of him understand _why_ , until…  
“You get seasick, don’t you?” He asked suddenly, as the realization came to him suddenly. Blade gave him a subtle nod.  
“There’s a reason I never joined the navy, even coming from a military family. When I was a kid, I went on a ship with my Pops...I don’t remember much more than the torture of swaying on top of a boat, and not under my own power.”  
“I guess that’s why I never noticed,” Skipper said, “It feels like home to me out here.”  
 _‘Well that explains it then...’_ they both thought.

Though the group remained out on the deck for a while longer, the Agustawestland eventually opted to go back to their room for the evening to rest - though he reassured them that they didn’t have to make any sacrifices of the rest of the evening for him - it was Dusty’s day anyways. He’d catch up with them again later on.  
So it was only Skipper and Dusty when they’d gone back below deck for drinks. Behind the sucking down of various alcoholic beverages, the warbird could see the vague disappointment in the crop duster’s face - this was a group event, birthday or no, and he didn’t feel like it was any fun without the _whole_ group here to enjoy it together.  
“Just feel like you guys are - _hic!_ \- at each other’s _throats, all_ the _time_...” Dusty started, not stopping even between heavy gulps from his bottle. They’d been here for all of two hours, and he was already getting himself wasted. “You’re all “I’m a big grown-up, don’t need any friends!”. Like, you both _act_ like it’s all fine and dandy, sure, but is it _really_? Is it, when I’m not here to keep you from bickering and fighting with each other? No, I don’t - _hic!_ \- think so, because _you_ start getting tense, and then _he_ starts gettin’ _tenser_...tenser...is it tenser or more tense? ...Skip?” The former crop duster looked back to find that his Companion had suddenly disappeared.  
“ _Wooo_ I hope he comes back with chocolate..” he tells himself, taking another swig, not noticing the slightly concerned look of the bartender.

He didn’t have their room key as he approached their shared quarters, but he hoped the other was awake enough to answer the door. Blade didn’t seem to have expected Skipper standing in the carpeted hallway, though, because his expression went from tired and aggravated to somewhat startled in the blink of an eye. But he let him in anyway, checking that the “Do Not Disturb” tag was still hanging over the doorknob before shutting it again.  
“Where’s the champ?” He asked.  
“Probably talking to himself at the bar.” Skipper answered.  
“You left him _alone_ , by _himself_ , at a _bar_?”  
“Yep.”  
“On his _birthday_.”  
“Yep.”  
There was a silence between the two of them for a moment, before the technically younger male’s lip tightened, nodding to himself in that ‘well, shit’ sort of manner.  
“He’s gonna pass out within the hour.” He then declares.  
“Kinda why I was hoping this wouldn’t take so long.” Skipper admits, “But I wanted to...I don’t really know. I want to start over.”  
Blade looked half-awake again, eyebrow quirked in confusion. “Huh?”  
“This whole trip so far has felt really professional and forced between us. I mean, I know we’re both fine around Dusty, but that’s kind of the _problem_ at the same time. We’re _only_ fine, and only with Dusty in the middle.”  
“Yeah..” Blade nodded slightly, understanding what the older male meant, “I guess it’s hard when you’re trying to let your guard down with people you don’t know - well I mean, with people you don’t _know_ know.”  
“Exactly.”  
“So...for Dusty’s sake, and _not_ for it…” He said, making sure he got the context, “we...start again?”  
“Yeah. The only thing is, I’m not really...well I’m not sure how to go about that.” Skipper admitted to him. “I hadn’t really thought much farther than openly acknowledging that.”  
“Well...I think I need a drink anyways after today, so want to go back down and find the kid before he empties the shelves?”  
“That might be a wise idea.” He answered.

Thankfully, as the two returned to the bar, the crop duster _hadn’t_ run them out of rum yet, but he also wasn’t long in topping over onto his nose cone.  
“ _Finally!_ Took fuckin’ _for-EV-er_ to come back here! What did you do, get fresh with each other when I wasn’t looking? Were you all professional and uppity today just so I wouldn’t catch onto the fact that you two totally _work_ together?”  
“Can we throw him overboard as a birthday present?” Blade offered. Dusty choked on his next sip of drink number four hundred thirty-seven, “Wait you _did_!? _Without me!?_ ” He looked genuinely hurt by the others, as though left out of an inside joke.  
“I think you’ve had a little too much to drink.” Skipper pointed out, “Why don’t we get _ours_ to-go,” He said, looking to Blade and then back to Dusty, “and then take you back to the room and call it a night?”  
“So you can tell me the truth, right? Fucking did it without me?...Can I join in next time?” He seemed to be slipping past the happy-go-drunky and into the full-on delusional. Blade looked undecided between laughing or dying of embarrassment. A few cruise vacationers seemed to be overhearing bits and pieces of the young plane’s delirium, and were giving them weary looks and snobby glances.  
They did eventually coax the orange plane back out of the bar and to their room for the night, and while Skipper held the two older’s drinks, Blade had to help him back to the room without him crashing into anything or anyone. It was a good thing he was about three times what the little plane weighed, because he would constantly topple over and into his side on the way back, and he’d constantly have to right him again and half-shove him down the hallway. Skipper would wait behind them when he did actually fall over a few times, watching the older male have to practically drag him by his tail the last thirty feet.  
Finally safe in the enclosed walls of a private room, the older two sighed their relief that they made it back in one piece. Dusty flopped into bed, snuggling down into the thickly cushioned mattress with a chirp of intrigue - “ooh, squishy!” - while the other two started on their own drinks. They left the TV on for him to enjoy while the “adults” talked, glancing back at him every now again - usually when the subject went back to him. A few times he piped up from the bed, wanting either attention or a sip of their beverage choices, until they eventually joined him over on the bed.  
There were two mattresses in the room, the group deciding that Dusty would just sleep with one Companion for the night, until he would inevitably get up and move to the other bed in the middle of the night, and back again, effectively enjoying _and_ annoying both of them until morning. But how they sat now could almost be good enough to sleep in, one mentor on each side and Dusty snuggled up in the middle, happy as a clam.  
“M...c’n’I have some?” He asked again, leaning forward to try and steal a sip of Blade’s drink. Skipper blocked him off before he could reach though, effectively sandwiching him between himself and the helicopter, one orange and white wing sliding under his belly and the other under the chopper’s. Blade looked back to see the young plane wriggling, trying to free himself, and of course, in his position, the best course of action was to push _back_ into him, further ‘trapping’ him.  
“Oh c’mon! Just a sip!” He pleaded.  
“I don’t think so.” Blade said with an obvious smile.  
“Think you’re done drinking for the night, young’n.” Skipper added.  
“But it’s _my_ birthday, come ooon!” He tried to push himself up and out from under the two of them. Neither one even budged.  
“And you wanted _us_ to accompany you. What else did you expect would happen?”  
Dusty finally stopped trying to fight his way out from in between the two larger males, flopping back into the mattress, bottom lip protruding as he pouted. But soon enough the television show intrigued him again, and he forgot all about the drink.  
Eventually, between being trapped and lying on the bed and the effect of a lot of alcohol, the young plane yawned deeply, an indication of finally being ready to fall asleep. Blade would have gotten up to retreat to his own bed as the other drifted off, but he reached his wing up under him, pleading for him to stay. Skipper couldn’t leave either, it seemed, so in the end all three ended up sleeping together on the same mat, split into perfectly even 80-10-10 ratios.  
They would have another two whole days to be spent together after this, but now it didn’t feel nearly as tense as before - Blade and Skipper seemed to have finally crossed the bridge into a steady, casual friendship, one that didn’t rely on their shared Bonded Companion - though they would tease about him endlessly. But this was no longer a friendship that relied on his existence to compensate. They finally felt as though they could get along by themselves, and in that knowledge the next two days were pleasant strides of communication and activities between all three, and in each pair within their triangle. Blade was also unbelievably relieved when they finally got off the boat, and if he hadn’t known any better he almost would have leaned against Skipper’s side in doing so. But he collected himself enough to avoid it - barely. That didn’t stop the other from returning a playful smirk.  
“Called it!” Dusty chirped, the two suddenly burning in the face at his notice.

**Author's Note:**

> -this project was a nightmaaaaare. I rewrote the opening like three times. I almost scrapped it. I put it in time-out off and on for like two months, or however long this has been in my work-in-progress things.  
> -Blade and Skipper are _weird_. It’s actually one of those crack-ships I just might be able to get behind because it’s just so weird. It’s very little thought of in the fandom it seems (and I can see why). But the thing is, Skipper is a very calm, “cool” and confident character, very steady and level-headed, he knows when to relax - Blade’s the opposite. He is a heavy workaholic, and his emotional ranges are much more complex, and cleverly masked to boot. I feel like he might be intimidated or even feel challenged by the other’s collective stance. It takes the right things to happen at the right times to get them to see each other eye-to-eye and not sidestep around each other, or hide behind Dusty. But they _also_ have to be able to get along without him - Dusty can’t be the mediator for them all the time. That said, once they cross that hurdle - which is this - they can actually work really well as friends. They compliment each other where they aren’t the same.  
> -A lot of this inspired by (and therefore dedicated to as well) BobblyChicken, from their Bonded Companionships to the not-so-very-subtle fanfiction nods. And Dusty being a hilarious drunk dork. And you know by morning he is just sprawled out across the other two sleeping in absolute bliss. Well, until that hangover kicks in...


End file.
